Son Double Bursts Hammers Bubble

I referenced last night that the clash with West Ham could well be Tottenham’s most important game of the season, if that was the case then it can only be considered a crucial win last night as Mauricio Pochettino’s men advanced to the Quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

The reward for disposing of one set of London opposition is to be paired with another as arch rivals Arsenal lay in wait next month, that will undoubtedly be a mouth watering clash as the two sides lock horns for the second time in just over a fortnight.

Those preparations will come in due course but in the short term Tottenham and their much changed side will afford themselves the opportunity to celebrate after picking up their second win of the season at the London Stadium, a statistic all the more impressive when you consider that West Ham have won just the same amount in this campaign.

The hero of the night was Hueng min-Son as his brace put Tottenham in a commanding lead, however that arguably was not the full story of the game as just like in the recent league encounter the man in goal for the visitors had plenty of work to do.

This time around though it was Paolo Gazzaniga who was called into action on countless occasions and he was equal to just about everything that the Hammers threw at him. There was one instance when his net was breached, something that threatened to create a grandstand finish in East London.

After West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini made two attacking substitutions that saw both Marko Arnautovic and Lucas Perez enter proceedings, it was the latter that halved their hosts deficit and gave them belief that they could get back into the game.

Believe that was then evaporated just minutes later when Fernando Llorente prodded home from a Christian Eriksen, the former Swansea man scored with just a quarter hour remaining and it was that strike that took any remaining sting out of West Ham.

From there the final 15 minutes or so were something of a procession as the London Stadium started to empty and Tottenham capped off a well rounded performance and bounced back in the best possible way after suffering defeat to Manchester City on Monday night.

There is no rest for the wicked though as they play their third game this week on Saturday with what could be a difficult to trip to face promoted outfit Wolves, at the same time though with Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli coming through last night unscathed they will be pushing for inclusion from the start.

While Juan Foyth will be knocking on the door of a first team start at the weekend after an imperious performance in East London, unfortunately though for the Argentine you do get the feeling that it will be back to the defensive status quo come Saturday night.

If Tottenham have cleared this important hurdle then the next one will be to keep pace with the quartet of teams that are ahead of them in the Premier League. It will be an interesting clash against Wolves, the question is whether this packed schedule will end up causing them problems, only Saturday will be able to answer that. Until then.